Fantastic Fest 2012: Early Reaction to the Paranormal Activity 4 Work Print

Last night a work in progress print of Paranormal Activity 4 was shown to audiences at this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. Of course we were on the scene and have come back with a review of what was shown. That being said…

Keep in mind that this is an assessment of an unfinished film so there’s room for lots of changes and tweaking between now and its official release. The purpose of screening films at this stage is so that the filmmakers can gather notes and improve upon what is there. We can only report on what was shown at the event.

From the Press ReleaseFans of “PARANORMAL ACTIVITY” are being empowered to bring the movie to their city first. Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, Inc., will debut the fourth installment in the popular horror franchise exclusively in 25 cities around the world by encouraging fans to vote to see it first with a new “Want It” application on Facebook.

“Want It” is a dynamic application utilizing Facebook’s open graph technology that gives fans the opportunity to vote to bring the franchise to their city and leverage their social networks to ensure they are one of the top 25 winning locations. The application recognizes a fan’s geo-location according to their Facebook profile and automatically registers a vote to bring the film to their city first. Votes will be shared on a fan’s page and automatically posted to the Facebook newsfeed to rally their peers to bring the film to their city first, too.

The application feeds individual votes into a dynamic leader board that shows the ranking of every city in real time. Audiences can track the top cities as well as the ranking of their own city and push out reminders encouraging friends to vote. “Want It” brings an unprecedented level of interactivity for fans in determining screenings of the movie.

“There’s a very special connection between ‘PARANORMAL ACTIVITY’ and Facebook,” said Matt Jacobson, head of market development at Facebook. “Four years after the initial success of the franchise and the establishment of a passionate fan community, we’re excited to see continued iteration on a franchise that was born on Facebook. Paramount is using both the Facebook platform and media to drive awareness of the film, three months out, and we will continue to drive awareness and intent at scale as we approach opening weekend in October.”

“The success of ‘PARANORMAL ACTIVITY’ began with the fans who have championed the movie franchise from the very beginning through social media,” said Amy Powell, Executive Vice President of Interactive Marketing. “Now we’re creating an even more dynamic experience among the film’s community of fans, and for the first time we’re giving them an opportunity to go head-to-head on Facebook with fans around the world to determine the 25 cities who get to see ‘PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4’ before it opens.”

Paranormal Activity 4 will open nationwide on October 19th, and per usual, most details for the film are being kept under wraps. Paranormal Activity 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have returned to helm for Paramount Pictures based on a script by Zack Estrin (a writer/executive producer on ABC’s “The River”).